Here’s the first paragraph of a recent news story from the UK: “The Government has announced its new drug strategy with an uncompromising drive to crack down on those involved in the drugs trade combined with revolutionising treatment services to offer recovery as a route out of dependency. “

Wow. A revolutionary treatment – actually getting the person through a drug rehab program that makes an addict no longer an addict, and no longer wanting to take drugs. A new life.

It’s hard not to be flippant about that. It is so obviously the only real solution.

But in the UK, and in other countries, getting people to actually be able to stop taking drugs and not want to take them is a concept that was abandoned quite some time ago. Instead, they try to reduce the harm caused by the drugs.

There are several programs designed for harm reduction.

Methadone treatment. Methadone was originally intended, for most people, for short-term use to get someone through heroin withdrawal so they can get through a drug rehab program. Instead, people are parked on methadone for years and without any actual rehab at all. The rationale? It’s better than heroin: no needles, no crime (the methadone is supplied at nominal cost through the government), and they can often work and carry on a more or less normal life – as long as they keep taking this dangerous, highly addictive drug.

Other programs include needle exchanges, where the addict can come to a needle exchange site, get a clean needle instead of using one that’s been used by someone else and may be infected with HIV or other diseases. They can also shoot up at those sites, with personnel there to take care of them if they overdose.

Both reduce harm, true, but neither gets the person off drugs.

James Brokenshire, England’s Minister for Crime Prevention is determined to make changes. “There are no quick fixes, what we want to achieve is a generational shift, to get people to take responsibility for their actions and free themselves from the vicious cycle of drug and alcohol dependency.

“Today’s message is clear. Simply focusing on reducing the harms cause by illicit drug use is no longer enough. We must focus on recovery as the most effective route out of dependency.

“We will also tighten the net on unscrupulous drug dealers, introduce temporary banning orders to allow us to take immediate action against new ‘legal highs’, protect vulnerable young people by preventing them from falling into a cycle of dependency, and encourage record numbers of drug users into treatment.”

Hallelujah! More power to you!

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Over the last 8 weeks, a doctor from Kansas and his wife have been on trial for illegally prescribing prescription medications to dozens of patients who wound up dying. In total, they were linked to 68 overdose deaths.

This week, they were finally found guilty of the charges. And, the reason behind all of the prescription writing was money. So, the “doctor” was no more than a glorified drug dealer.

With prescription drug abuse being such a rampant and devastating problem here for us in the US, it’s amazing that they got as far as they did before getting into trouble. I mean, how come 68 people had to die before anything was done?

This makes it more important than ever to put prescription monitoring programs into place. Not only are we dealing with addicts who “doctor shop”, but we’re dealing with shady doctors who don’t care what the effects are in terms of prescribing dangerous medications as long as their pockets continue to be padded with cash. I’m not referring to all doctors, of course, but there are some out there, apparently, who need to have this enforced. Such a shame!

Prescription drug overdoses are the second leading cause of death in the United States right now. We seriously need to get on the ball and start putting some programs in motion to straighten out the mess that has been created. And, that doesn’t mean sending all of the heroin users to methadone clinics either! We need to get people rehabilitated and living drug free lives.

If you know of anyone who is suffering from prescription drug abuse, or uses them recreationally for a “little bit of fun”, it’s no joke! They need help! Drug rehab help, to be exact. Don’t let them become a prescription drug overdose death statistic.

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This week, there was an article in the news about a professional soccer player, the captain of the team actually, who got caught through a drug test for smoking marijuana. What was interesting about this article to me, was the way the Players’ Union handled the issue. He wasn’t just thrown out and told not to come back.

There are preset rules in the league that deal with drug abuse. Not only a way to deter use, but a way to help the players through, should they find themselves faced with drug addiction issues.

The soccer player was drug tested, which is a bi-annual, no prior notice procedure, administered to everyone in the league. An independent company tests the players for common street drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana as well as performance enhancing drugs.

Instead of throwing players out of the league for testing positively, they have the option to attend a drug rehab program. Then, after successful completion, they can play again. To me, it’s truly a winning solution. And, I think a lot of people would benefit from this type of program in many different work-based scenarios. The player who got busted is through his time in rehab and back to doing what he loves, playing soccer.

Rather than throwing someone out, which doesn’t help the situation at hand, they are assisted. And while marijuana seems like a fairly harmless, non-addictive drug to a lot of people, it is illegal and many, many people enter drug rehab to battle the havoc it causes in their lives.

President Obama is currently working on a new anti-drug strategy. I really hope this headline makes its way to his desk. Perhaps it could be a positive addition to what he’s working on to clean up America. We need all the help we can get!

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Did you know that doctors receive about four hours of education on drug treatments during their entire education? With all of the drugs that wind up being prescribed, it seems as if there should be a little more emphasis on this part of their education. And, it leads me to believe that this contributes directly to drug addiction and abuse.

Since the doctors don’t have time to their own research, and the drug companies seem to go out of their way to hide any information that makes their drugs look bad, people are being prescribed medications based on almost no training. They rely on the “education” that they get from the drug manufacturers’ representatives, which often amounts to little more than propaganda.

With this being said, we MUST take it upon ourselves to get educated. It’s the only immediate solution to changing what’s happening in our current drug culture. We have to take some responsibility for ourselves and what we’re consuming and the risks that are involved. It’s obvious that our doctors aren’t going to do this for us.

With the little education the doctors receive about drug therapies, the lies and conveniently hidden information on behalf of the drug makers and the weak FDA regulations on research, beware of the risks involved with the drugs you’re prescribed. Drug dependence and addiction are all too common, even with people who take their medications as prescribed by the doctors they trust.

If this is a scenario you’re familiar with because of your own experience, or you know someone who has gotten hooked on prescription drugs, get help. Call a drug addiction treatment center right away!

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Great – now we’ve got drugs that cause addictive behavior. And I’m not talking about an inherently addictive drug like OxyContin or Xanax. The specific drug in question here is Mirapex, used to treat Parkinson’s Disease, and it can cause addictive behaviors like gambling and compulsive eating.

It’s true, a lot of drugs save lives. But there are so many successful methods, other than drugs, for dealing with many of our problems. Pain can be addressed with certain nutrients and natural analgesics (and if you have to get into drugs you can certainly find some a lot less dangerous than things like OxyContin – OxyContin abuse has probably put more people into a drug treatment center than heroin (of course, OxyContin IS heroin, so what can we expect?)

And you can also get physical therapy, chiropractic, or acupuncture – which I understand does wonders for pain. My father got over debilitating hip pain in just two acupunture sessions. And it’s never come back!

There are also nutrients and natural remedies to address depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, and any number of things. These three can often even be addressed by just doing some exercise. But, instead, we put up with drugs, their outrageous side effects, and the possibility of drug overdoses, interactions, reactions, and so on.

What a mess.

A large percentage of people going into a drug treatment center program these days have a problem with prescription drugs – and they often started out by being prescribed the drugs by their doctors.

In some European countries, where people are much healthier than Americans, there is far more emphasis on natural remedies and prevention. Hopefully, Obama’s new health care plan will address some of these issues.

In the meantime … if you’re having trouble coming off a drug like painkillers, anti-anxiety or depression meds and would like to see if you can resolve your problems without them, contact us to find out if there’s a drug treatment center that can help you.

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Anyone interested in non-drug, natural or alternative health care is very aware of the medical establishment’s resistance to these methods. But, nevertheless, many of them work and, unlike drugs, don’t make you sick in the process. One such example is the use of acupuncture in dealing with drug addiction.

One addiction treatment center, in a prison, treats 700 inmates every year – many of them hard core drug addicts who have tried other treatments without success.

Not only are the prisoners behind acupuncture, one decades-long heroin addict says nothing has worked as well. It’s also enthusiastically supported by a local judge who has sent many people “kicking and screaming” for acupunture treatment only to be thanked later. 

No one follows up on the addicts after their release, although it is known that some people stay drug-free.

One of the major hurdles for continued sobriety is probably that many of them don’t have health insurance to continue their treatment, or their coverage doesn’t include acupunture.

That’s where the medical establishment’s resistance comes in. If acupunture was accepted and its benefits acknowledged the insurance companies would follow.

Acupuncture has been a successful treatment method in Asia for centuries. The health care system in Japan, for example, which has its own style of acupuncture, is ranked (by the World Health Organization) as the 10th best in the world. The U.S. comes in at # 37. 

Acupunture is also very effective in the treatment of pain – instead, we favor painkillers, one of the biggest causes of prescription drug addiction.

There’s a lot more to handling a real drug addiction than acupuncture, and a good addiction treatment center offers all the other services necessary. Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that getting rid of medical prejudice against non-drug therapies like acupunture could help alleviate our drug problems.

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Tomorrow is Inauguration Day – this time it’s for Obama. Boy, has he got a mess to clean up. He’s going to need a lot of money to turn this country around.

Being a special advisor to the president (joke), I have some suggestions.  The first, and the last, and everything in between, involves handling the nation’s drug problem, including prescription drug addiction and abuse.

Why is this such a big issue? Because it’s costing us a lot of money – it costs the country billions of dollars to house prison inmates who are there for drug-related crime, health care, emergency services, etc. etc. etc., that could be spent on elsewhere – and it represents a lot of people who are going to be part of the nation’s problems instead of part of the solutions.

And, as both Obama and Biden have made very clear, it’s going to take a shoulder to shoulder grassroots effort, in addition to changes in government, to make the changes we need. That’s not going to happen when a large percentage of the population is too drugged to be effective – and I’m including prescription drugs, even those we get from our doctor (but, somehow, we stay on them for months or years with no real medical reason behind it – we’re addicted.)

Changing the country has to start with changing ourselves – our own lives. You can start by getting someone you care about into an addiction treatment center so they can change theirs.

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An interesting commentary article from the Phillipines talks about enablers – people who somehow support the bad habits of their friends and family. Gamblers who are loaned or given money, and drug abusers, and dealers, whose parents and family members turn a blind eye instead of getting them into an addiction treatment center where they can get help.

One of the problems mentioned in the article, which leads to ‘enabling,’ is trying to avoid conflict. I would say that’s a major problem – especially within a family.

When someone tries to talk to their husband, wife or kid about their drug or alcohol problem, there’s a good chance they’re going to meet with hostility. The addict, or alcoholic, will throw everything you’ve ever done wrong in your face, or will be beligerant and angry, will storm out of the house or go into another room and slam the door, and so on.

In other words, they attack the person who’s trying to help them and make the situation so uncomfortable the person either backs down or gets so embroiled in the argument themselves they can no longer do what they’d set out to do.

How can you avoid this? First, don’t try to speak with the person when they’re currently on drugs or drinking. When they’re sober they’re more likely to agree they have a problem. Second, try not to get upset when they do so you don’t give them anything to fight with. Generally, it takes two to argue.

Third, and most important, be ready to take them to an addiction treatment center right then and there. Have it set up beforehand so as soon as you get the person to admit they have a problem, you can put them in the car, on a plane, whatever it takes, to get them into treatment before they change their mind.

If you can’t do this, get help from an interventionist. They can help you see the whole thing through to the end. In fact, most interventions aren’t what you would expect. A good interventionist can get the job done without a lot of drama.

All the reasons you have wanted a loved one to stop drinking or taking drugs, all the fears you’ve had about it, are a reality. If you haven’t yet experienced the worst of it, ask anyone who has. And then get help through a drug addiction treatment center.

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At Drug Rehab Referral we are just what it sounds like – a referral service. We have people call us about a loved one, or themselves, because they have a problem with alcohol or drug addiction or abuse and want help. Sometimes they know there’s a problem, and sometimes they just suspect it.  They need to talk to someone about the situation and figure out whether there’s a problem or not and, if there is, get some help on finding the alcohol or drug addiction treatment center or other type of treatment that’s best for their situation.

One of the models we’re often asked about is Narconon – a very thorough program that actually follows up on their people after they’ve left to make sure they stay clean. Narconon has a success rate of about 70% – which, for them, means the person they treated was followed up on for two years and was still clean at the end of that time period.

This is a remarkable success rate – drug rehab programs in general are much lower, some as low as 5%. That’s a big difference.

Check out this interview with Narconon Georgia’s director.

Narconon may not be right for everyone, but at Drug Rehab Referral we’re familiar with many, many different programs all over the U.S. – including the various locations of Narconon (it’s not only available in Georgia). Give us a call at 877-211-7428. We can go over your situation with you and, if needed, help you find the addiction treatment center or other help that’s right for your circumstances.

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I wrote a post not too long ago about the dangers of marijuana and received a few comments about how ignorant I am and calling me names you wouldn’t really want to publish.

One of the things I talked about was marijuana being laced with other drugs. That, too, was considered ignorant.

Since I’ve been around for a while and have endeniable proof that’s the case, the comments didn’t really bother me.

In the news today is a warning from police about marijuana laced with crack cocaine.  In England, the mixture is known as Mach5 and, according to the police who’ve been busting people with the stuff, this combination is used so the marijuana is more addictive and dangerous.

That’s the kind of people most drug dealers are, actually. They make their living from people coming back for more on a regular basis, not from the occasional user, and they’ll go to great lengths to accomplish that. If they can get the user to come back every day or start buying larger amounts, they make more money.

It’s the same with many industries. They depend on repeat business to keep going. Big Pharma’s a good example. They lie, cheat, steal and would probably kill their grandmother to turn more people onto prescription drug addiction.

Drug dealers also get referrals from repeat customers. Another important avenue to business growth. People who get a more dramatic high from one guy’s marijuana than another’s are going to tell their friends about it, and their friends wil switch suppliers.

Not everyone who sells marijuana is some laid back guy who just happens to sell some to an occasional friend who comes to the house to kick back.  They’re business people. They’re in it for the money.

Some don’t even take drugs themselves – they’re just looking for a way to make money and don’t really care who they hurt doing it, whose lives are ruined, or who ends up in an addiction treatment center.

Again, don’t take smoking marijuana lightly. Remember, when someone buys marijuana, they’re not doing business with a pillar of the community. They’re doing business with a criminal. They’ve chosen a path in life that is anti-social. Is that really someone you want to trust?

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